On Motivation

As usual, an item on Sarah's blog has filled my head with more commentary than seemed appropriate for a HaloScan page. This time it's a Bankrate.com interview with Robert B. "The Example" Parker. My grad advisor John Weir likes to teach the works of Hemingway because (paraphrasing) they are as much examples of how to write as how not to write. I use Parker for the same reason.

Like his writing, Parker in person is very curt. He says, "I am neither better nor worse for [wealth]. It allows me to give it to the people I love (above named wife and sons). Which I do. I let others manage the money, though I am not unaware of what they're doing. Money is a means to an end. It neither interests me nor bores me, any more than say gasoline does...I won't retire. I'll keep writing until I can't, or no one will read me. I do not have, nor do I anticipate a 'Spenser RIP.' My motivation hasn't changed."

This answer sounds good. Friendly critics have praised Parker's regular output as "consistent" or "dependable." You may want to say, "Good on Parker for not selling out." Tiger Woods had a similar answer when questioned about his don't-call-it-a-slump. Effectively, he plays the same way whether ahead or behind.

I say motivation should rise to the occasion. Say what they will, the Yankees and Red Sox do not play other teams with the same intensity they play each other. Maybe Tiger is still in his don't-call-it-a-slump precisely because his motivation hasn't changed.

The next story should challenge (tease, sneer at) a writer, so the writer says, "I'll show you." I'm currently prepping in the Bat Cave of my mind to face a story called "Stragglers".